Kenyan Tycoon Paul Wanderi Ndung'u Loses Big As London Court Clears Sportpesa, Slaps Him With 2.9 Million Bill

Kenyan businessman Paul Wanderi Ndungu has suffered a major setback in his fight with SportPesas offshore holding company after a London court threw out his fraud case and ordered him to pay about Sh375 million in legal costs. In a ruling delivered Nov. 18, Justice Edwin Johnson of the High Court in London found no fraud, forgery or conspiracy in the dilution of Ndungus stake in SportPesa Global Holdings Ltd, now SPG Ltd. Ndungu, a founding shareholder and former nonexecutive chairman, had accused fellow shareholders and directors of using three share allotments between 2019 and 2022 to cut his holding from 17 percent to less than 1 percent. He argued the moves breached U.K. company law and were part of a plan to edge him out of the betting business. The judge disagreed. Johnson ruled the capital raises were commercially justified and properly approved, noting that SportPesa was under pressure after Kenyan regulators suspended the local licence of Pevans East Africa Ltd, the company behind the SportPesa brand. The company, he said, needed cash to stabilise operations and fund expansion into markets such as Italy, South Africa, Tanzania and Russia. Court papers show Ndungu was invited to buy new shares but chose not to invest. The judge said his evidence was at points unreliable and rejected expert testimony that documents, including board minutes and share offer letters, had been forged. Ndungu had also asked the court to grant relief for unfair prejudice under Section 994 of the Companies Act. Johnson reviewed 11 complaints and dismissed each one, saying SPGs affairs had not been conducted in a way that unfairly targeted him. The decision caps a long-running London battle that has hung over SportPesas owners while parallel disputes continue in Kenyan courts over trademarks and other assets. SportPesa, founded in 2014, rode Kenyas mobile-money boom to become one of the countrys best-known brands before a bruising major tax showdown in 2019 forced a shutdown of its local operations and layoffs at Pevans East Africa. SPG, which now runs the SportPesa brand in a dozen markets and reported revenues of about Sh10 billion in 2024, said the ruling vindicated its governance and fundraising. Law firms DLA Piper UK LLP and Mishcon de Reya LLP represented the defendants. Ndungus lawyers, Jury OShea LLP, have not indicated whether he will appeal, though allies say he may still pursue fresh action in Nairobi.